Going back to school to boost trading grades
FOR those who wish to get a more robust foundation to their trading, there is no lack of offerings out there, no matter your experience. But where to start? Do you want the freedom of being able to study online or would you rather be face to face and gain hands-on trading experience. How much time can you dedicate, and what’s your budget? The courses do not come cheap, but if they can improve your trading profitability, then they can more than pay for themselves. Here’s a selection of courses and providers to get you started:
LEX VAN DAM TRADING ACADEMY
www.lexvandam.com
Online course – £399
The online trading academy from hedge fund manager Lex Van Dam is split into five parts – idea generation, company analysis, chart analysis, charting psychology and risk management. According to Van Dam: “The goal of the five-step trading is to give you a good grounding so that when it comes to more aggressive trading methods that I will discuss in later courses you will have a good basis to work from.” When you purchase the online course you will also have many other benefits such as priority booking for seminars, discounts for new online modules and access to online material.
If you want to get a preview of what’s on offer from Lex Van Dam, he will be a keynote speaker at the City PM Active Trader conference on 24 May. Details at www.cityamactivetrader.com
SOCIETY OF TECHNICAL ANALYSTS
www.sta-uk.org
Foundation course – £650 for six weeks
For the charting purists, the Society of Technical Analysts (STA) runs dimploma courses at all levels Courses are held in London at London School of Economics and the British Bankers Association and all teaching is by qualifed STA members. The courses are considered suitable for the annual PIA Continuous Professional Development Programme.
The Society of Technical Analysts offers structured courses in the theory and use of technical analysis. The foundation course offers a basic introduction to technical analysis while for those hoping to progress, the STA Diploma Course and exam gives students the opportunity to gain an internationally recognised qualification required to be a full member of the STA (MSTA). The STA courses are run in central London but a home study course is also available if the classroom hours do not suit your schedule.
BPP
www.bpp.com
14-week trading and technical analysis course – £4,000
On the more expensive end of the scale, but also on the more in-depth side, BPP offers a 14-week course in conjunction with Amplify Trading. The practically-focused course is geared to real-life trading in international stock, commodity and bond futures. Face-to-face teaching takes place at BPP Business School each Tuesday evening from 6-8pm. In addition to the evening classes, participants will also be given supervision on the CQG trading platform where where you can trade on the major exchanges using various asset classes.